Anogenital distance in human male and female newborns: A look at a cross section of a Nigerian population

A cross-sectional study was conducted among the newborn children at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and Braithwaite Memorial Hospital all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The study included 139 newborn infants (80 males and 59 females), born at term, with no congenital defects. Birth weight, length, and anogenital distance AGD, were made with tape by two independent observers. Distance was measured from the center of the anus to the posterior convergence of the fourchette in females; and from the center of the anus to the junction of the smooth perineal skin with the rugated skin of the scrotum in males. Student‘s T-test and analysis of variance were used to compare male-female measurements using Graph Pad Prism 3.0. The AGD in males and females were 3.02 ± 0.14 and 2.58 ± 0.11 cm respectively. There was significant difference between the AGD values in male and female babies in a Nigerian population.